The international recognition that women have a right to a life free from violence is a recent one. Historically, their struggles with violence, and with the impunity that often protects the perpetrators, is linked with their fight to overcome discrimination. Since its founding the United Nations has concerned itself with the advancement of women's rights, but did not specifically target the high rates of female targeted violence until 1993. One of the aims of the resolution was to overturn the prevailing governmental stance that violence against women was a private, domestic matter not requiring state intervention. To mark International Women's Day on 8 March 1993, General Secretary, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, issued a statement in preparation of the declaration explicitly outlining the UN's role in the 'promotion' and 'protection' of women's rights:
"The struggle for women's rights, and the task of creating a new United Nations, able to promote peace and the values which nurture and sustain it, are one and the same. Today - more than ever - the cause of women is the cause of all humanity."
Definition of Violence Against Women
Articles 1 and 2 of the resolution provide the most widely used definition of violence against women.
Article One: For the purposes of this Declaration, the term "violence against women" means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.
Article Two: Violence against women shall be understood to encompass, but not be limited to, the following:
As a consequence of the declaration on 4 March 1994, the Commission on Human Rights adopted Resolution 1994/45 in which it decided to appoint Radhika Coomaraswamy as its first United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, including its causes and consequences. The Special Rapporteur has a mandate to collect and analyse data from governments, treaty bodies, specialized agencies, NGOs, and other interested parties, and to respond effectively to such information. Furthermore, they also have a role in making recommendations on an international, national and regional level, as well as liaising with other Special Rapporteurs, special representatives, working groups and independent experts of the Commission on Human Rights. On 18 June 2009 the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Rashida Manjoo as the third incumbent of the role after the tenure of her predecessor, Dr. Yakin Erturk, came to an end.
Problems
Many advocates of Women's Rights as Human Rights have expressed concerns that much of the ground gained by the declaration has been threatened by the rise of more conservative forces within the international community. In March 2003, during a meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women the delegate from Iran objected to the inclusion of a paragraph that called on governments to "condemn violence against women and refrain from invoking any custom, tradition, or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination as set out in the Declaration of the Elimination of Violence against Women." Representatives from Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan and US also raised objections; making it the first ever diplomatic failure at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
Campaigns
Each year, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women marks the start of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence. Human Rights organisations such as Center for Women's Global Leadership, Unifem, Women Won't Wait, Women for a Change, Women's Aid, and other groups join together to speak out against gender violence and to promote the rights and principles of the declaration. On 10 April 2009, Amnesty International held a demonstration in Narayanghat, Nepal, to highlight the plight of women's rights activists after the Nepalese state failed to protect two activists from violent attacks and, finally, their murder. Despite ratifying the declaration, Nepal had failed to abide by Article 4-c which asserts the clear obligation of states to:
"Exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons."
